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Science Fair 2012

Science Fair 2012
Yesterday, the homeschool group I am a part of held its annual science fair. My oldest daughter was a participant in it. This year, there was only 6 students taking part, but they had awesome projects and I am so proud of them.
This makes the sixth year I have organized the science fair. The projects just keep getting better and better. The kids take so much time in doing their projects. They do a great job talking with the judges and explaining how they did it. The science fair is definitely a highlight of the year for me.
Sarah’s project was titles, “Layers of Science: Onions and You.” She was testing different ways that you can get the onions to stop making your eyes water. The different ways she tested were, using a very sharp knife, rubbing vinegar on the cutting board, burning a candle while slicing the onion and putting the onion in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before slicing. We both did this and for Sarah none of the methods worked for her. However, for me, the vinegar on the board worked best.
There were many other suggestions that she could have used; chewing on a piece of bread while slicing the onion, slicing the onion with water running over the onion, putting a lit match in her mouth while slicing the onion. She may continue working on this project to test the other ideas.
At the science fair, in her category, she placed 1st. We are so proud of her.
I normally don’t like getting my picture taken, but decided to get my daughter to take one at the science fair.  It looks like I am looking a little green around the gills!  
We had a wonderful time at the fair and I am already looking forward to see what the kids come up with next year for their projects!

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Science Fair 2012

Science Fair 2012
Yesterday, the homeschool group I am a part of held its annual science fair. My oldest daughter was a participant in it. This year, there was only 6 students taking part, but they had awesome projects and I am so proud of them.
This makes the sixth year I have organized the science fair. The projects just keep getting better and better. The kids take so much time in doing their projects. They do a great job talking with the judges and explaining how they did it. The science fair is definitely a highlight of the year for me.
Sarah’s project was titles, “Layers of Science: Onions and You.” She was testing different ways that you can get the onions to stop making your eyes water. The different ways she tested were, using a very sharp knife, rubbing vinegar on the cutting board, burning a candle while slicing the onion and putting the onion in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before slicing. We both did this and for Sarah none of the methods worked for her. However, for me, the vinegar on the board worked best.
There were many other suggestions that she could have used; chewing on a piece of bread while slicing the onion, slicing the onion with water running over the onion, putting a lit match in her mouth while slicing the onion. She may continue working on this project to test the other ideas.
At the science fair, in her category, she placed 1st. We are so proud of her.
I normally don’t like getting my picture taken, but decided to get my daughter to take one at the science fair.  It looks like I am looking a little green around the gills!  
We had a wonderful time at the fair and I am already looking forward to see what the kids come up with next year for their projects!

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Curriculum Choices for Upcoming School Year!

Curriculum Choices for Upcoming School Year!

I am really excited about the upcoming school year! We have made our curriculum choices and have most of the books that we will be using. I will only be homeschooling three children this year as my oldest graduated from high school last month. My oldest son will be attending the local community college and finishing up his 2 year degree. He is excited about only having 2 semesters to finish before he will move on to a university. We are extremely proud of all he has accomplished thus far.

My oldest daughter, who will be entering the 8th grade, will be using Tapestry of Grace. She will be doing Year 1, From Creation to the Fall of Rome.

We used Tapestry of Grace 2 years ago and she loved it. However, due to funds, we didn’t use it last year. This year, someone gave our family a $300 gift certificate to Lampstand Press and we were able to buy the bulk of the main material. Then another blessing happened. A fellow homeschooler sent me an e-mail and said she had a lot of books she could let me borrow for Year 1! I sent her the list since I bought the redesigned TOG and she had quite a few on the list. Which means that I will have even less to buy. God is so good! I know it is meant for us to use this curriculum since He has used others to provide the majority of the curriculum for us. Yes, we do serve an awesome and mighty God! Tapestry of Grace will cover History, Literature, Bible, Geography, Government, Writing and Art. We will add in Teaching Textbooks for math, Apologia for Physical Science, dance lessons as well as Piano lessons. We are still talking about a foreign language. However, she has mentioned she wanted to learn Greek. I am thinking we may add Spanish though.

As for my soon to be 1st and 2nd grade youngsters, we will be using Bob Jones and Hooked On Phonics this year.

This is a very big change from last year. I started out with Sonlight last year and just could not get it to work for us. Back in February, I finally just gave up on Sonlight and ordered Hooked On Phonics and Bob Jones math. We read a lot of Science and History books as well as worked on writing. They just seem to work better at this time with worksheets. Thankfully a homeschooling friend was going to sell her Bob Jones that she had used the past several years and I was able to purchase the teacher manuals and textbooks for a reasonable price. I just need to place an order for the consumable workbooks and we will be all set for the year. Hooked on Phonics, Reading and Math will be covered daily. I will alternate Science and History throughout the week. I want them to have fun while learning and not overwhelm them.

The only decision that is left is when to begin the formal book learning! I am thinking perhaps the 2nd week of August. That will give me time to order what few books we do not have yet and give them time to get here. I know I am looking forward to getting back on some kind of schedule. However, I may ease back into schooling and just start with what I already have on hand.

What plans do you have for your upcoming year? Are you trying any new curriculum? When do you plan on starting school, or do you school year round? I can’t wait to hear from you!

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Curriculum Choices for Upcoming School Year!

Curriculum Choices for Upcoming School Year!

I am really excited about the upcoming school year! We have made our curriculum choices and have most of the books that we will be using. I will only be homeschooling three children this year as my oldest graduated from high school last month. My oldest son will be attending the local community college and finishing up his 2 year degree. He is excited about only having 2 semesters to finish before he will move on to a university. We are extremely proud of all he has accomplished thus far.

My oldest daughter, who will be entering the 8th grade, will be using Tapestry of Grace. She will be doing Year 1, From Creation to the Fall of Rome.

We used Tapestry of Grace 2 years ago and she loved it. However, due to funds, we didn’t use it last year. This year, someone gave our family a $300 gift certificate to Lampstand Press and we were able to buy the bulk of the main material. Then another blessing happened. A fellow homeschooler sent me an e-mail and said she had a lot of books she could let me borrow for Year 1! I sent her the list since I bought the redesigned TOG and she had quite a few on the list. Which means that I will have even less to buy. God is so good! I know it is meant for us to use this curriculum since He has used others to provide the majority of the curriculum for us. Yes, we do serve an awesome and mighty God! Tapestry of Grace will cover History, Literature, Bible, Geography, Government, Writing and Art. We will add in Teaching Textbooks for math, Apologia for Physical Science, dance lessons as well as Piano lessons. We are still talking about a foreign language. However, she has mentioned she wanted to learn Greek. I am thinking we may add Spanish though.

As for my soon to be 1st and 2nd grade youngsters, we will be using Bob Jones and Hooked On Phonics this year.

This is a very big change from last year. I started out with Sonlight last year and just could not get it to work for us. Back in February, I finally just gave up on Sonlight and ordered Hooked On Phonics and Bob Jones math. We read a lot of Science and History books as well as worked on writing. They just seem to work better at this time with worksheets. Thankfully a homeschooling friend was going to sell her Bob Jones that she had used the past several years and I was able to purchase the teacher manuals and textbooks for a reasonable price. I just need to place an order for the consumable workbooks and we will be all set for the year. Hooked on Phonics, Reading and Math will be covered daily. I will alternate Science and History throughout the week. I want them to have fun while learning and not overwhelm them.

The only decision that is left is when to begin the formal book learning! I am thinking perhaps the 2nd week of August. That will give me time to order what few books we do not have yet and give them time to get here. I know I am looking forward to getting back on some kind of schedule. However, I may ease back into schooling and just start with what I already have on hand.

What plans do you have for your upcoming year? Are you trying any new curriculum? When do you plan on starting school, or do you school year round? I can’t wait to hear from you!

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Homeschooling – Building A Bird Nest!

Homeschooling – Building A Bird Nest!

For science, I had planned on using the Sonlight Core K Science books for my 2 younger children. Instead of following their teacher edition, we have just been reading the books. I got really excited when I first saw that most of the books were from Usborne.  The first book we are reading is the Eggs and Chicks book. In the first couple of pages, it talks about how birds build their nests and showed several different types of nests. I thought it would be a neat project if they tried to build a nest.

 First we read about how the birds built their nest.
 We then collected grass, leaves and twigs.
 Next, we did our best to make the base as round as we could by stacking twigs on each other.
 We continued stacking it until we made a little hollow in the middle.
 Once we finished our nest, we went on a little hike around our yard to see if we could find any nests already build by the professionals, the birds!  We found an old one in the birdhouse that just recently fell off  the tree it was on.
 The second birdhouse we found was on our front porch.  It was in the corner next to our front door.
 The kids noticed that the first birdhouse was made out of grass and pine needles.  The second nest was made out of grass and twigs and put together with mud/spit.  We had a lot of fun doing this little project and look forward to doing many more just like it!